It’s Thanksgiving week in the United States but we are feasting alternatively on acronyms here in Digestville. I.E., e.g., ICYMI, BYND IPO PDQ, and FYI Perfect Day AKA Muufri JDA w/ ADM. As they said at Bletchley Park, let’s get out the Enigma machine and decode. In New York and California this week, the nutrition […]

A ‘breakthrough’ mechanical harvesting solution for castor bean plants was developed by Evogene and agricultural equipment manufacturer, Fantini s.r.l., resulting in the removal of a major bottleneck in the conversion of castor beans into a fully modernized commercial crop. With field trial yield losses decreasing significantly (we are talkin’ up to 50% decrease) as a […]

By C.J. Evans, Member, Lee Enterprises Consulting Special to The Digest It is not enough to just have a game-changing idea, concept, or innovation. Nor is it enough to just add a top-notch team, detailed workplan, and sufficient inhouse and outside expertise to move through each of the nine TRL levels. You need to be […]

The pace of bioeconomy invention and change continues at a frenetic pace. Here are the top innovations for the week of November 7th. In today’s Digest, 3D printed Bio-eyes, biobased surfactants, duckweed’s comeback, cow poop fabric, starch algae opp, Disney goes bio, alt tuna — these and more, ready for you now at The Digest […]

In Washington, researchers for a report published by the Urban Air Initiative contend that “technical data that shows the nation has been exposed to decades of flawed test fuels and flawed driving tests, which in turn means flawed emissions results and mileage claims”. The complete Beyond a Reasonable Doubt series from UAI is available here. Further, EPA […]

ANTARES has been assisting clients identify and use biomass resources since the company was founded and our experience ranges from conducting feedstock supply assessments to serving as owner’s representative in the conceptualization, development and operation of energy plants. A few examples of capabilities include: • Feedstock logistics and supply/demand analyses for lender’s due diligence and […]

Today, commonly used fertilizers contain little to no organic material. Simply put, using plant- or organic-based materials to feed crops just takes too long to convert into a usable form (up to two years). Much of the nitrogen and phosphates in traditional fertilizer aren’t even consumed by the plants. In some instances, almost 70% of […]

Anaergia is the world leader in solving waste problems by recovering energy, water, and fertilizer from virtually any waste stream. While Anaergia was built on the foundations of highly capable and experienced acquisitions, focused investments on innovation and execution capabilities allow us to deliver facilities that divert waste, reduce life cycle costs, create new revenue […]

Aemetis owns and operates 110 million gallons per year of ethanol and biodiesel facilities in the US and India, and is upgrading the plants using patented technology to produce lower carbon, higher value advanced biofuels and chemicals using lower cost, non-food energy sources and feedstocks. Of special interest is the Aemetis cellulosic refinery using agricultural […]

Founded in 2008, Anellotech has developed a clean technology platform for inexpensively producing bio-based chemicals from renewable non-food biomass. These drop-in, green versions of widely used petrochemicals; benzene, toluene and xylenes, are used to make plastics for consumer goods such as beverage bottles and packaging, clothing, carpeting, automotive parts, home and construction materials, electronic products, […]

In Iowa, economic development leaders for the state approved a settlement that requires DuPont to repay $10.5 million in state incentives that it received back in 2011 for its ethanol plant that they closed last year. The settlement is waiving $3.7 million of the incentives. Last week, the Digest reported that VERBIO North America was […]

In Germany, models foresee a 10 to 30-fold rise in agricultural land devoted to bioenergy according to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Platform on Climate Change that was referred to by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Most IPCC scenarios foresee a major increase in land area for cultivating bioenergy crops […]

In Indiana, Andersons Clymers Ethanol LLC received approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a pathway for the generation of renewable fuel Renewable Identification Numbers under the renewable fuel standard program for the production of non-grandfathered ethanol. The ethanol is produced through a dry mill process at Andersons’s production facility located in Logansport, Indiana […]

In Israel, Evogene Ltd.’s financial results for the third quarter ending September 30, 2018 were positive with approximately $58.2 million in cash, short-term bank deposits and marketable securities, representing a net cash usage of approximately $13.5 million for the first nine months of 2018 and approximately $4.0 for the third quarter of 2018. Gross profit […]

In Germany, UFOP reports that the stock-to-use ratios for soybean and sunflower seed have improved due to larger crops globally; rapeseed has gone down slightly. The stock-to-use ratio for rapeseed and sunflower seed has been in decline for years now. The picture is somewhat different for soybeans. Bumper crops are causing supply and stocks to […]

In Spain, researchers at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos found a new method using purple bacteria and electrical currents that reduces carbon emissions from wastewater treatment plants. Purple bacteria are photosynthetic and use infrared light as their energy source, giving them various colors like purple, brown and red. The bacteria can perform metabolic reactions and are […]

In New Zealand, the University of Victoria says building a biorefinery—probably at Marsden Point—geared towards aviation fuel, as well as bioethanol and biodiesel for blending with conventional fuels will aid the transition away from the country’s current heavy transport and aviation vehicle fleet, as well as feeding current and future hybrid electric vehicles. An aspect […]

In Germany, fuel cells that work with the enzyme hydrogenase are, in principle, just as efficient as those that contain the expensive precious metal platinum as a catalyst. However, the enzymes need an aqueous environment, which makes it difficult for the starting material for the reaction – hydrogen – to reach the enzyme-loaded electrode. Researchers […]

In Washington, the U.S. Department of Energy has announced 36 projects that together have been awarded $80 million to support early-stage bioenergy research and development. Two ASU research teams are among the grantees, with the grants to ASU totaling about $4.5 million. The two teams are headed by Wim Vermaas, Foundation Professor in the School […]

In Argentina, the Cámara Argentina de Biocombustibles, CARBIO, is fighting back in response to the European Biodiesel Commission which claims Argentina is distorting the export prices of its biodiesel by imposing a higher export tariffs on soybeans and soybean oil than on biodiesel. CARBIO president Luis Zubizarreta told Clarin, “The European Commission is aware that […]

In Washington, Reuters reports that an unidentified group of biofuel producers referred to just as “Producers United” has asked a federal judge to keep the Environmental Protection Agency from continuing to issue hardship waivers to smaller oil refineries. The complaint filed in US Appellate Court alleges that the EPA’s decision to retroactively grant waivers to […]

In France, France24 reports that the government has announced a plan to end imports of agricultural products it says leads to deforestation by 2030 including palm oil, soy and beef. The move follows the European Parliament’s approval of the updated Renewable Energy Directive that seeks to eliminate use of palm oil in biofuels by 2030, […]

In Washington, Reuters reports that Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley doesn’t believe the Environmental Protection Agency will continue to issue hardship waivers to small refiners at the pace previously seen under the prior administrator. He said that he feels the current administrator believes his predecessor was too “liberal” in the issuance of waivers. The current administrator […]

In Washington, Reuters reports that the ethanol industry is suffering heavily from the Trump Administration’s trade war with China as demonstrated by a number of quarterly filings by ethanol companies last week. Without China to buy 200 million gallons of ethanol, trade that has dried up due to the ongoing trade war, the US market […]

Other Recent Articles

In Washington, D.C., ethanol production averaged 1.067 million barrels per day (b/d)—or 44.81 million gallons daily, down 2,000 b/d from the week before, according to government data released and analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association. However, the four-week average for ethanol production increased to 1.055 million b/d—the highest average in 8 weeks—for an annualized rate […]

In Nebraska, Green Plains Inc. announced that it completed the previously announced sale of its three ethanol plants to Valero Renewable Fuels Company LLC for $319 million in cash, including net working capital and other adjustments. The transaction includes ethanol plants located in Bluffton, Ind., Lakota, Iowa, and Riga, Mich. which represented approximately 20% of […]

In Illinois, Platts reports that expectations that production will ease on the back of low prices had an immediate impact on Argo ethanol prices, lifting them from 13-year lows to $1.2405/gal on Wednesday from $1.2175/gal on Tuesday. There is little fundamental support to be found in the market with the seasonal low demand period approaching […]

In India, the Financial Express newspaper reports that the domestic sugar industry is pleading with the central government to have regulations established by the National Green Tribunal requiring certain licenses for ethanol producers be eased in order to facilitate to a quick ramp up in production. The national government is pushing for sugar mills to […]

In Indonesia, while the government has paved the way for an increase in biodiesel blending to 20% in order to combat oversupply of palm oil as well as reduce imports of fossil fuels, the Jakarta Post reports that biodiesel producers are calling on the government to boost the blending rate even further to 30%. Under […]

In the UK, Renovare Fuels has been awarded support by Innovate UK for aviation fuel testing through the Sustainable Aviation for Clean Growth program. The company has developed a technology that converts waste into a biofuel that could replace traditional fossil fuels. Fuel standards outlined by the British Ministry of Defense state that turbine-engine airplanes […]